The Day of Black Sun
by maripaz6
Summary: Katara discovers something on the Day of Black Sun. Something that changes the course of the Invasion. ONESHOT.
"I love you, Dad. But Aang needs me." Katara gave her father a huge hug, enveloping him in her arms.

"I understand, honey," he murmured into her hair. "Make this invasion a success. I love you too. Go!"

Katara ran to Aang's side. The four of them - Aang, Toph, Sokka and herself - were going to end the war before anyone else got hurt. She was sure of it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Deep in the Fire Lord's underground bunker, Katara knew she was going to die. Even unable to bend, Azula was a fearsome adversary. While Toph and Aang tried to beat the Dai Li agents in their own element, Katara and Sokka faced off with the Fire Princess. Azula spun and twirled, avoiding every icicle the waterbender threw at her. And Sokka, with his clunky boomerang, was worse than useless. Whenever he got close to the deranged Fire Princess, Katara had to save his bacon. Azula was extremely dangerous, but her big brother never seemed to learn his lesson.

Dodging and ducking, Katara knew she couldn't keep fighting Azula much longer. She simply didn't have the strength or the stamina. She would have to end the fight soon. With a grunt, the Waterbender gathered her energies for a tidal wave, ready to freeze the Fire Princess against the wall. But as she did so, she spotted Azula about to stab Aang with a long, deadly-looking knife she had somehow pulled from her robes.

"No!" Katara cried. She had sacrificed so much to bring Aang back after the lightning - she refused to lose him again. Frantic, Katara reached out with her waterbending, desperate to stop Azula. And suddenly she felt the pull of the moon. The full moon. Instinctively, Katara bloodbent Azula to the floor.

Katara was so shocked that she would have stood stock-still for another five minutes had Sokka not screamed "Katara, watch out!" She turned to see one of the Dai Li agents running toward her. Thinking quickly, she bent the two Dai Li agents to the ground next to Azula.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Toph froze in surprise at the Dai Li agents which she had just been fighting suddenly crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Then she nodded to Katara and said, "Keep it up, Sugar Queen." Stamping toward the two Dai Li agents, she shouted, "Where is the Fire Lord? Answer or you'll regret it."

The younger Dai Li agent looked at Katara with wide eyes and said, "I'll take you there." Azula struggled desperately against Katara's bending, clearly seething at the Dai Li agent's disloyalty. However, Toph ignored the Fire Princess and said, "Smart guy. And he's telling the truth. Lead on".

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Aang stared in shock as Katara bent Azula and the Dai Li agents towards the Fire Lord's chamber. He was just about to ask how she was able to do this - as far as he knew there was no full moon - when Sokka broke in, answering his unasked question.

"Katara!" He shouted, exuberant. "I figured out why you can bloodbend! It's a solar eclipse. The sun is being covered by the moon. The full moon. So you can bloodbend. Little sis, you might turn The Invasion into a success all on your own!"

Aang smiled nervously. Now that he knew he really was going to face the Fire Lord, he was scared beyond belief. He had no clue what he was going to do. Was he going to kill the Fire Lord? He had never imagined they would make it this far. He was about to have a panic attack. What would he do?

"We're here!" Toph shouted, effectively stopping Aang from worrying any longer. "The Fire Lord is on the other side of this door, defenseless," she continued. "Let's do this!" She bent the Dai Li agents into the metal wall and punched open the secret door. Taking a deep breath, Aang strode into the room, ready to fulfill his destiny.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Zuko had been in the throne room on the verge of betraying his Father. But before he could draw his swords, the Avatar burst in. On instinct, Zuko immediately took up a defensive stance and easily avoided the Avatar's gusts of air. Ozai did likewise, surprisingly agile for his age.

Then his Father caught sight of Azula, the prodigy at the peasant's feet. Helpless. With a roar, he charged at the waterbender, forgetting the fact that he was unable to bend.

When Zuko saw what his Father was doing, he realized this was the perfect way to prove to the Avatar and his friends that he only meant them good will. That he wanted to join their group. Unsheathing his swords, he charged after his Father, ready to stop him from attacking the waterbender.

And then both he and his father were pushed to the floor. Hard. Zuko fell on his own swords; his last conscious thought was "Shit".

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Aang had been trying. He really had. Zuko and Ozai had just been too fast for him. And he still couldn't access the Avatar State.

When he saw Zuko charging at Katara, he reached automatically for the Avatar State. She meant the world to him. But he still wasn't glowing. He wasn't the Avatar. Luckily, it turned out Katara had the situation under control. Both Zuko and the Fire Lord collapsed to the ground, like a puppets with their strings cut. The girl of his dreams was an powerful bender under the full moon.

It was only when he noticed that Zuko was lying dead on the floor that was he surprised.

"Katara!" He shouted. "Why did you kill Zuko?"

"It was a mistake, Aang," she replied softly. "His swords were unsheathed, but I didn't notice them when I bent him and Ozai to the ground. He fell on his own swords."

"Still!" The airbender protested. "Death is unacceptable. The point of the mission was to end the war, not kill." The monks had taught him that all life was sacred, even that of the smallest spider-fly. He couldn't allow this. "You should have been more careful. You shouldn't have killed him."

Katara looked at him, a little affronted. "Aang, what do you think we are going to do with the Fire Lord and his daughter? We certainly can't let them live. And they don't deserve to live anyway."

More strongly, Aang repeated, "All life is sacred. We can't kill them!"

"Yes we can," she insisted. This was a new side of her he had never seen before, and he wasn't quite sure he liked it. "We have to. They're too dangerous." Then in a more challenging tone, she said, " What do you want to do with them, anyway, if we don't kill them?"

"Erm-" Shoot. He hadn't really thought about that. "I was thinking that we could…..you know…...maybe put them in prison?"

"No" She stated. "They have to die, Aang. They have to die to stop the war."

"Katara, I won't take anybody's life." He shouted, almost crying. "I am not a killer!"

Katara's eyes became frozen and hard as ice. "Fine," she snapped. "But I can't let the them get away with their crimes. You might be too weak for justice, but I am not. Mother, this is for you." The air surrounding Katara grew cold as she embraced her power and grabbed the blood of Azula and Fire Lord Ozai. With a graceful sweep of her arm she pulled the blood out of their bodies, leaving their desiccated husks on the floor. And at Aang's shocked gasp, she turned to face him and said belligerently, "What? I did what you couldn't." The light pink blood-water swirled threateningly above her head.

Aang looked at her, frightened of what she had become. Then he seemed to come to a decision. "Goodbye Katara," he said softly. "I'm sorry it has to end like this". He turned and walked away from her, never once looking back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Watching him walk off was like watching him destroy her life's happiness. Because he was. Aang was destroying her family, her ragtag family of outcasts. No longer would they be the Gaang, as Sokka had whimsically named them. Their group had undergone a radical change.

Afraid of what she would find, Katara looked hard at Sokka and Toph. "Are you going to leave me too?" she asked softly. When they wouldn't meet her gaze, she spat murderously, "Traitors. The lot of you." And with that she stormed away from Zuko, Azula, and Ozai's empty bodies, leaving Sokka and Toph to decide between her and Aang. Not that they would ever choose her over the Avatar, master of all four elements. She was nothing compared to him, even if she had ended the Hundred Year War.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Well," Sokka said. "That was interesting."

"Understatement of the century," Toph scoffed. "Who goes after who?"

"I'll take Katara," Sokka said quickly. "She's my sister, so I think she'd rather see me right now. Also, I sorta agree with her - Azula and Ozai had to die. Are you okay with Aang?"

Toph nodded once. "Yeah," she said. "I'll help Twinkle Toes out of his depression. Who knew that Sugar Queen wasn't actually all that sweet after all?"

Then the two of them simply stood there, not wanting to acknowledge that strife now engulfed Team Avatar. Right when the war had finally ended, the world was at peace, and they were all ready to live happily ever after.

After the interminable silence Sokka and Toph parted ways, ready to try and mend their crazy, makeshift, amazing family.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As Aang walked sadly away from the scene of the confrontation, his head was swirling with emotions, first and foremost the feeling of betrayal. Katara had killed people. He couldn't condone her actions. And he couldn't he couldn't like her anymore, no matter how strong his feelings for her were. He would avoid her for the rest of his life.

He stopped musing, though, when he was hit by a rock. "Twinkles!" Toph shouted from behind him. "Stop moping and face me like a man!" But Aang only sighed and began to walk away. What could Toph Beifong understand about his problems? She hadn't lost everyone she cared about.

Then, catching him by surprise, Toph bent him into a cage. A metal cage. One he couldn't escape since he never learned to metalbend, a huge mistake in hindsight. Now he had to deal with the enraged earth bender. Drat.

"Talk," she spat, looking like an angry badger-mole. "You can't be depressed. And talking helps. The world still needs the Avatar."

"No," was his quiet reply. "You won't understand Toph." Then, more testily, "I'm not the Avatar."

"First of all, you are the Avatar. Just because you can't glow doesn't mean the world doesn't respects your opinion and power." She took a deep breath. "And you'd be surprised by what I understand. Is this about Sugar Queen?"

"Yes. She destroyed what we had."

"Twinkles, are you talking about your crush?"

"What?! You knew?"

"Puh-lease. It was excruciatingly obvious. Anyway, please say no. I don't think I could deal with hearing about your mushy sentimental weaknesses right after we kicked butt and won the war! "

"We might have won the war, but we lost our family, Toph." He said, almost pleading. "She destroyed us. We aren't Team Avatar any longer." Then he added, almost as an afterthought, "And I don't have feelings for Katara anymore. Those feelings died with Ozai and Azula."

Toph breathed a sigh of relief; he was over Katara. Thank goodness. Her job was a lot easier now. "Aang, we don't need Katara to be Team Avatar. We can be our own family. We lost her, but it'll be okay. We don't need her."

"And what do you know about loss?" Aang snorted. "You've never lost your family, or even people you cared about! I lost the monks, and now I'm losing you guys too."

"No. Don't say that Aang. I do know about loss. I lost the Beifongs the moment I decided to help you get free from the Earth Rumble Six. And I lost them again when I joined you to travel the world and teach earthbending. And then I lost them forever when they tried to bring me home - kidnap me - and I metalbent my captors into my cell. I can never go home now."

There was a pregnant silence.

"I'm sorry, Toph." Aang said with sincerity. "I never thought of that. But still, at least your family is alive! The monks are dead. I can never see them again."

"Yeah, but they loved you when they died. You can still cherish that. And I can't," Toph said roughly. "The Beifongs hate my guts. That's why you guys are my family now." Then she added, "I did it for you Aang. You were the reason I left, and you were the reason I stayed away."

Again there was silence as Aang realized the enormity of Toph Beifong's decision to help him, no matter what. Aang said quietly, "let's build our own family. Just you and I. We can travel the world, practice our bending, and just have fun. Neither of us had a childhood. Now that the war is over, let's be children again. Happy and free."

Toph nodded. "Perhaps we could even add a couple more kids to our nomadic family. I'm sure the war has left behind plenty of orphans."

"Ones that need both a family and a home. Things we can give them! We'll rebuild and repopulate the air temples. We'll teach them how to bend," he said, with a youthful and innocent grin. "The future is ours for the taking."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Katara stormed away, seething. No one understood. She had done what was necessary. She had stopped the Hundred Year War. And instead of handing her medals, every one seemed more inclined to condemn her for killing the Royal Family.

The patter of footsteps behind her caused her to instinctively throw the blood-water at her secret stalker. Until she realized it was Sokka, her stupid brother.

When she saw who it was, she froze the water only inches from his face, her eyes flashed dangerously, and she snapped, "Leave. I don't want to hear about it anymore. And I refuse to apologize. Ozai and Azula had to die." With that she began to walk away once more, anger radiating from every line of her body.

She stopped short though, when Sokka said, "I don't blame you Katara. I think you did the right thing."

She spun around, surprised. "You do?"

"Of course I do! No matter what anyone else says, we both know that Azula and Ozai had to die to stop the war. Aang wouldn't have been able to do it. He's the Avatar, but he's also just a twelve year old kid." He took a deep breath. "You kept Aang from having to make that a terrible decision, one that he honestly couldn't have made. And you also got revenge for mom, dad, and everyone else who's been hurt in this godforsaken war."

"Thanks, Sokka. I'm glad someone understands." Katara said tearily, grabbing his hands.

"You'll forgive me, right?"

"There is nothing to forgive" he said magnanimously without any hesitation.

She gave him a soft smile. "That means a lot to me". Then she panicked. "What will Dad say?"

"I think he'll understand Katara. And either way he won't judge you. That's what family is for. And you ended the war!"

Katara smiled. "Yes. The war is over." How soothing those words were. "Let's go home to the South Pole", she said softly. "These years travelling have been amazing, but I've realized that there's no place like home. We can rebuild the South Pole."

Sokka nodded. Then he said excitedly, "Dad can meet Suki!"

"Are you two planning on getting married? Move in, perhaps?" Katara quipped.

"I don't know yet. I have to ask Dad's permission…. hurry up! We need to get to the surface!" Grinning, he grabbed her hand and dragged her after him as the two of them exited the Fire Lord's underground bunker.

Katara smiled. Now that the war was over, it was finally time to live.

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Author's Note:

I really hope you all enjoy this story as much as I do! Please please please leave criticism, praise or other comments. I can't become a better writer if no one gives feedback! I promise I'll PM a thank you for every reveiw. Pinky swear.

maripaz6


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